Monday, March 26, 2007 Cole: Graduation day blues By Eldred Cole Shespeak
I WAS caught in a traffic jam last Friday somewhere near Liceo University and SSS. It caught me off-guard considering that it was still morning and I was not in Divisoria where traffic congestion is a common sight you will sometimes miss said ambiance during "welga ng bayan," when the streets are barren of any vehicles, including your everyday pushcart and tri-sikad.
Then suddenly, it dawned on me that it was graduation time. It was so obvious to the naked eye because of the presence of different colors of garlands and corsages being vended outside the gates.
I could sense and feel the excitement and tension, and it reminded me of my own graduation way, way back.
Do you remember attending your elementary school graduation? In my time, nursery or kindergarten was not yet the "in" thing.
We go directly to Grade 1 upon reaching the age of 7, or if I can reach my left ear with my right arm over my right ear above my head. That was the most effective proof you are eligible to be enrolled in Grade 1.
Private schools then were rare; most of my age group is a graduate of "mababang paaralan" schools, built of wood or pre-fabricated skeletal structures painted red.
I still cannot understand the logic why we have to sing before going to class, though. Yes, we have the flag ceremony, we sing the "Lupang Hinirang" popularly known as "Bayang Magiliw", and we recite the "Panatang Makabayan" now known as "Panunumpa ng Watawat."
In the 70's, there were two additional songs I remember I had difficulty memorizing: "May Bagong Silang" and "Isang Bansa, Isang Diwa" or was it another song?
I think the last one is a slogan, together with this one: "Sa Ikakaunlad ng Bayan, Disiplina ang Kailangan." And, we have to do exercises, to the tune of Yoyoy Villame's "Mag-exercise Tayo Tuwing Umaga."
We love to sing way back then. Before the class starts, we have our daily program, when "song by the class" was the favorite expression and the "last part of the program" is a signal that inspection of our hands and ears is about to commence.
We even have to say in chorus our morning greetings to our teachers:
"Good morning Mrs. So-and-so, good morning classmates" recited in chorus with different volume and quality and tone of voice.
Every morning those greetings are like the echoes of the school bell ringing across the halls. Attending school before was like attending a musical-drama workshop; it was fun and full of musical events.
You can just imagine when commencement exercise comes, popularly known as "closing". From Grade 1 to 5, there was no commencement exercise program that I didn't participate.
Since my parents were both teachers, it was a given that I have to do the following: render a "tula" (which I did a hundred times), sing a song (which I didn't even if I wanted to) or dance any Hawaiian dance (I did Pearly Shells, My Blue Hawaii and Tiny Bubbles, twice, and donned a grass skirt made of straw or coconut leaves much to the delight of my skin allergies!)
But I couldn't remember my male cousins ever suffered the same fate that my sisters and I underwent.
Then, came my own graduation day. Since there was no "toga" available in my barangay, the powers-that-be in my "mababang paaralan" decided that the graduates should wear a hat, not your social-variety ala New Yorker hat.
No, we have to wear the "buri" hat or straw hat, and a white dress. Looking back, I could have died of embarrassment just wearing the dress with the hat, especially because I have to deliver the valedictory address (not because I was the smartest, but because my father was the principal and my mother was the teacher-in-charge).
To top it off, my neck was developing a rash because of two everlasting flower garlands hanging there courtesy of my cousins, and two corsages made of asparagus and ylang-ylang orchid, courtesy of my sisters, which unfortunately stained my white dress to the consternation of my mother. Nevertheless, after almost four hours of ceremony, due to the large number of class participation of Grade 1 to 6, and all those speeches continually droning in my brain, the commencement exercise finally ended.
And looking back, I could sum the event to a quote from Garry Trudeau that says "commencement speeches were invented largely in the belief that outgoing students should never be released into the world until they have been properly sedated."
But just the same, I appreciated such event in my life with the same fervor as the rest of my graduation days, the High School, College and College of Law, with hope, fear and anticipation that the future is bright for each of the graduates.
And I agree with Orin Hatch: "There is a good reason they call these ceremonies `commencement exercises.' Graduation is not the end; it's the beginning." Our schooling may be over, but remember that our education still continues. (For comments and/or violent reactions e-mail me at coi_416@hotmail.com).
